Electrolytic Capacitors - Aluminum & Tantalum | High Capacitance, Low-frequency Efficiency, Polarized & Non-polarized Options

Our offered range of Electrolytic Capacitors is a type of capacitor that uses an electrolyte, an ionic conducting liquid, as one of its plates, to achieve a larger capacitance per unit volume than other types. They are often referred to in electronics usage simply as electrolytica . They are used in relatively high-current and low-frequency electrical circuits, particularly in power supply filters, where they store charge needed to moderate output voltage and current fluctuations in rectifier output. They are also widely used as coupling capacitors in circuits where AC should be conducted but DC should not. There are two types of electrolytic: aluminum and tantalum.
Electrolytic capacitors are capable of providing the highest capacitance values of any type of capacitor (see Super capacitors) but they have drawbacks which limit their use. The standard design requires that the applied voltage must be polarized; one specified terminal must always have positive potential with respect to the other. Therefore they cannot be used with AC signals without a DC polarizing bias. However there are special non-polarized electrolytic capacitors for AC use which do not require a DC bias. Electrolytic capacitors also have relatively low breakdown voltage, higher leakage current and inductance, poorer tolerances and temperature range, and shorter lifetimes compared to other types of capacitors.